During this fast-paced Operational Experimentation and Prototyping Campaign, I made sure that we constantly looked at our process through the lens of the Warfighter (end-user) and sought ways to ensure the handoff to the Program Executive Officers (PEO) was as seamless as possible. Without the early involvement of those who approved airworthiness/testing and the military operators inheriting the capability; the augmented PPBE and POM processes; the “investment strategy” style of risk management; and other lessons learned described within this paper, 2027 would have been the starting point for developing this game- changing capability, instead of December 2019. The A5/8 Office from the owning Major Command (Air Mobility Command) recently stated: “The PEO is inheriting a fast-moving train that is multiple stages ahead of where a normal acquisition program transitions.”
EVANS led the operational experimentation and prototyping campaign, taking it from a concept on paper to a live-fire demonstration. He received his B.S. in Physics at the Citadel and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Georgia. He started his career in the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in 2000 and moved to Eglin Air Force Base in 2019. He has led programs ranging from basic research to operational experimentation. The author can be contacted at dean.evans@us.af.mil . The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the Department of Defense. Reproduction or reposting of articles from Defense Acquisition magazine should credit the author and the magazine.
May-June 2025 | DEFENSE ACQUISITION
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